Pratchett turns other fictional characters into 'real' figures in his novel, including Sweeney Todd, a murderous though pitiable veteran suffering from war-trauma, and Solomon Cohen, a philosophical Freemason who has escaped in the nick of time from murderous anti-Semite mobs in seemingly every European city before ending up in London. Pratchett has taken the Artful Dodger from Dickens' Oliver Twist and reformed him with a handsome figure, a good heart, a salubrious mentor, and a less illegal occupation than pick pocketing (though he is accomplished at that as well). Suiting his nickname, he's also quick and slippery, never to be caught by the police ('peelers') or other undesirables. In addition to being the 'king of the toshers,' Dodger is a 'geezer,' which means that he knows and is known by all the right people dwelling in London's underbelly and that he is sharp-witted, skilled at acting, and adept at reading people. This sets in motion a chain of events that threatens Dodger's comfortable and unambitious life and identity as a 'tosher' (earning his living by scavenging the labyrinthine network of sewers running beneath mid-nineteenth century London) with new emotions, revelations, responsibilities, reputations, dangers, and prospects. Terry Pratchett's historical novel Dodger (2012) is a fun read right from the opening stormy night scene, in which the eponymous seventeen-year-old protagonist saves a golden-haired damsel in distress from two thugs and makes the acquaintance of Charles Dickens. The Fog of Truth in a Fun Historical Fantasy But occasional stumbles from Briggs here take what would otherwise have been a four - or even a four and a half star review down to a solid, and still enjoyable, three. Not, I should say, massively out of it - the book is still great fun and very interesting, and the narration is still head and shoulders above anyone else ever to lend their voice to Pratchett's words. Here though, it feels like Briggs, rather than Pratchett, is slightly out of his comfort zone. Normally, I yield to no-one in my appreciation for Briggs' readings of Pratchett's work: it's no exaggeration to say his readings opened up some of Pratchett's finest to me in a whole new way. The only slight let-down here is a somewhat lacklustre narration by Steven Briggs.

Pratchett brings Victorian London to life with the same eye for strata and people as he does Ankh Morpork, and allows his hero to be a real person, while simultaneously shining through as slightly better than average, and much better than he's believed to be (certainly, and winningly, by himself at all accounts). Here he borrows one from another great writer, and does interesting thigns with him. Terry Pratchett is of course well known for creating vivid characters.

Dodger pratchett